Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Short Interest Update

Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) saw a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,120,000 shares, a decrease of 11.8% from the September 15th total of 1,270,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 324,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Hilltop Stock Performance

Shares of HTH stock opened at $32.57 on Thursday. Hilltop has a 1 year low of $26.78 and a 1 year high of $35.66. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.24.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.05. Hilltop had a net margin of 7.10% and a return on equity of 5.30%. The business had revenue of $297.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $283.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Hilltop will post 1.38 EPS for the current year.

Hilltop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Hilltop’s payout ratio is currently 39.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Hilltop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Stephens upped their price objective on Hilltop from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Hilltop from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hilltop news, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 17,157 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.99, for a total transaction of $566,009.43. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 544,979 shares in the company, valued at $17,978,857.21. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 28.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hilltop

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hilltop by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 315,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,872,000 after acquiring an additional 21,771 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hilltop by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,239,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,486,000 after purchasing an additional 105,716 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,230,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop during the 1st quarter worth approximately $520,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,408,000. 57.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Hilltop

Hilltop Holdings Inc provides business and consumer banking services. It operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, term, agricultural and commercial real estate, equipment loans, and other lending products; and mortgage, commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance.